Trolls and their history




    When the Norsemen settled down in Norway, they thought they were the first inhabitants there. They quickly realized, however, that the country was inhabited by numerous strange creatures. Some lived in the hills and beneath the tufts, they were called elfs and fairies (Haugtusser og Tuftekaller).Some lived in the rivers, such as the famous Fossegrimen, who taught the Norwegians how to play the fiddle. In the lakes you would find the dangerous N¢kken. Others were Nisser and preferred to live closer to humans, so they very often settled down in barns or in cowsheds. The mighty mountains were also inhabited and here you would find the trolls. The King of the trolls was called Dovregubben. Some trolls would be giants, trees and moss would grow on their heads and noses, some others would be pretty small. Some even had several heads :



     They all lived to be hundreds and hundreds of years old. It was not uncommon for a troll to be at least four hundred years old! In many ways the trolls were very much like human beings, but there were some differences though! They normally had just four fingers and four toes on each limb. Their noses were always very long and the troll-mummy would use her nose to stir the porridge. They also had tails, rather like that of a cow. Although they were quite frightening, they were mostly naive, so it was not difficult for a shrewd farmer boy to get the better of them and get hold of all their riches. Sometimes, however, the troll women transformed themselves into beautiful young girls (Hulder) and lured the peasant boys into the mountains. The best thing to do if one met a beautiful girl in the forest was, of course, to get behind her and see whether she had a cow tail! If that was the case, the boy ought to run away as fast as he could. But unluckily many a young hunter got lost in that way! Young girls were also lured into the mountains. That was very often a question of their being attracted to all the gold and silver the trolls had. And not to talk about the princesses, some of the trolls really got into the habit of kidnapping them! But once inside the mountain, they would seldom see the daylight again. Unless a young, brave farmer boy happened to come along and trick the troll who had carried off the princess. If that was the case, the brave lad would marry the princess and get half of the kingdom!


    The trolls could never come out of their mountains when the sun was up, then they turned into stones. That's why you can se so many peculiar huge stones in Norway today! But don't imagine that all the trolls have turned into stone! Even today, you may happen to meet some of them if you leave the highroads, so beware not to get lured into the mountains! The best advice to everybody who meets a Norwegian in Norway is to get behind him/her to make sure s/he is a  real Norwegian and not a Troll or a Hulder; especially during the long summer nights, then you're almost sure to come across some!


A view of Trollheimen (The Trolls' home)
Who knows what may be hiding in there??


Beware! He may only be asleep!


The music you hear is composed by Grieg (Norwegian composer, 1843 - 1907. It is called I Dovregubben's Hall (In the Hall of the Mountain King).




The Nordic FAQ




A good site if you want to listen to the kind of music Fossegrimen taught us (Norwegian folk music on the Web : Arnehaug's Home Page)

Back to index

Go to my home page
Back to index


This page was last updated June 1, 1998

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page